1829-1896

Location: First Floor, Room 136, South Wall, Sequence 7

Source: Kedzie Collection

Kekulé's name is intimately associated with the structural theory of organic chemistry. In 1858, simultaneously with Archibald Scott Couper, he proposed the tetravalence of carbon and the linking of carbon atoms in chains to rationalize the structures of aliphatic compounds. These ideas were extended in 1865 to ring formation and the hexagonal structure of benzene, for which he is most famous.